Computer Forced Focus on Training Material

ABSTRACT

The invention consists of a computer program useful for training people over the internet, or other computer networks. This program resides on a server computer and upon the selection of a link to the file which contains it, will download to the client computer. This program will create a text document which will record the travel of the mouse cursor over the face of the document in a way which mimics the reading of a printed page by pointing one&#39;s finger at the words being read. The program will record the percentage of the page covered by the mouse cursor, and therefore closely focused upon by the trainee. It will send that data back to the web server for posting to a database under the log-in identifier of the trainee. The program contains algorithms which prevent the recording of the mouse cursor movement if the movements are random motions, right to left, too fast, or otherwise in a pattern indicating the material is not being read. The invention can also be used to record the thorough review of material contained in an image, such as a graph or illustration.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a computer program which calculates the percentage oftraining material which has been carefully reviewed or read by the userof a computerized training system. It is useful for the training ofpeople over the internet or other computer networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART

The internet, other computer networks, and computers in general, haveproven powerful tools for presenting training material to people,especially to those located at many different remote locations. Programsand web sites which do this contain the ability to display documents andimages which have been selected by the user from a menu which is linkedto those documents and images.

The present invention addresses the shortcomings of the merepresentation of text or image documents on a computer screen. Whileprevious systems display the material on the screen, there is no way toknow if the user focused on the material to any degree, or even kept thescreen open for more than a second or two. In many cases, there is noway for a trainee's supervisor or training administrator to know if thetrainee used the system to display the material at all. The presentinvention allows the trainee's supervisor or training administrator todetermine if the trainee displayed the material, and to what degree thetrainee focused on the material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Operation of the invention begins when a trainee logs in to the computerprogram using a user identifier, along with a password if deemedappropriate. This allows subsequently recorded information to be sentback to the server for filing in a database by trainee.

The invention is a computer program which will select a text documentfile from a computer network server, exemplified by an internet webserver, and determine the size of the text document contained in thefile. The invention will then combine a separate computer program withthe text document file and send the result to the client computerscreen. The result will be a display area, adjusted to the size of thetext document, and broken down into small invisible rectangular grids.Those invisible grid areas will be cover the same area of the computerscreen as the visible text document.

The computer program sent to the client computer along with the textdocument will detect the movement of the mouse cursor over the invisiblegrid areas, and therefore also over the lines of the text document.Algorithms contained in the program will determine if the mouse cursormovement is consistent with movement analogous to the motion of one'sfinger across the page of a book, when reading in that fashion. Areas oftext contained in rectangles of the grid, which are covered by the mousecursor in a manner accepted by the algorithms, will be consideredattentively read. If the mouse cursor enters a grid rectangle from adirection, or at a speed, inconsistent with a focused reading of thetext, that motion will be ignored and the text corresponding to thatgrid area will be considered not attentively read.

After the trainee feels he or she has adequately covered the materialpresented in the text document, the document will be closed. At thattime the total number of rectangular grid areas associated with thedocument will be counted. Also counted will be the number of grid areasattentively focused on as indicated by appropriate motion of the mousecursor over each grid area. That second number of grid areas, divided bythe total number of grid areas as first calculated, will determine thepercentage of the document considered attentively read.

The percentage of the document considered read will be sent back to theserver for recording in a database, under the user identifier. This willallow the trainee's supervisor or training administrator to review theperformance and effort of the trainee in attentively reviewing thetraining material presented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. 1. User identifier entered into the system at log-in time.

FIG. 2. Text document as displayed by the program on the clientcomputer.

FIG. 3. Image document as displayed by the program on the clientcomputer.

FIG. 4. Example of mouse cursor movement which will be recorded as afocused effort, indicating attentive reading or review of the materialpresented.

FIG. 5. Example of mouse cursor movement which will be ignored, and notrecorded as a focused effort to read or review the material presented.

FIG. 6. Another example of mouse cursor movement which will be ignored.

FIG. 7. Another example of mouse cursor movement which will be ignored.

FIG. 8. Example of message box displayed when mouse cursor movement istoo fast.

FIG. 9. Display of results of the trainee effort, to be sent back to theserver for recording in a database.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention entails a computer network, and a computer program runningon a server in that network. A user at a client computer on the networkwill log into the program running on the server. Access to the programon the server will be controlled via a user id and password, in order toprevent unauthorized use of the training system, or unauthorized viewingof any confidential training material.

FIG. 1 illustrates the user id and log-in control. In this embodimentthere is a third control field called a Company Code. It identifies thecompany or department the user belongs to.

The trainee then navigates to the text to be studied, via a menu system.Once there, the text is displayed by the invention, which is a computerprogram on the server which opens the file containing the text anddetermines it's size, then downloads the text and a special accompanyingprogram to the client computer. The program now downloaded to the clientcomputer displays the text in an appropriately sized area which willalso contain invisible grid areas.

FIG. 2 illustrates how the text appears in the display area.

The same process is used by the program to display an image to bestudied. Such images can be used for graphs, drawings, or illustrations.

FIG. 3 illustrates how an image appears in the display area.

The trainee then sweeps the mouse cursor over the displayed text, fromleft to right, and slowly enough to indicate attentive reading of thematerial. Algorithms included in the program downloaded to the clientcomputer will analyze the path of the mouse cursor, and determine ifthey follow a path which indicates an attentive reading of the displayedtext. The algorithms are such that a significant amount of concentrationmust be used, and attention closely focused on the lines on the page.Such focus and concentration will bring the content of the text line tothe attention of the user and result in recognition and some recordingto the user's memory, of the written text. In one embodiment, if themotion of the mouse is too fast, an error message will pop up which willprevent the user from continuing. The user will have to close the errormessage display before being allowed to move on at a slower pace.

FIG. 4 illustrates the path followed by the mouse cursor which willresult in successful recording as attentive reading of the grid areascovered. The grid lines as shown are not visible to the user. These aremeant to indicate where the invisible grid lines mark off the grid areaswhich the mouse cursor must cross following a path from left to right.

If the mouse cursor covers the grid areas in random patterns, orpatterns not found in a normal reading process, such as up and down, thegrid areas covered will not be counted as attentively read.

FIG. 5 illustrates a pattern covering grid areas which will not berecorded as attentively read, because they are random motions up anddown across the page. Any grid area entered from either the top or thebottom, will not be counted as attentively read.

If the mouse cursor does not enter a grid area at all, that grid areawill not be recorded as attentively read.

FIG. 6 illustrates a mouse path which misses a grid area. That area willnot be counted as attentively read. This figure also illustrates a gridarea not counted because the mouse cursor entered it from below.

If the mouse cursor enters a grid area from the right, that grid areawill also not be counted as attentively read.

FIG. 7 illustrates a path from right to left. Grid areas entered fromthe right will not be counted as attentively read. This figure alsoillustrates a grid area not counted because the mouse cursor entered itfrom the top.

If the mouse cursor is being moved over the grid areas too quickly, thealgorithm in the program will recognize that the trainee is not readingthe text. A message box will be displayed asking the trainee to slowdown. The message box will need to be closed before the trainee cancontinue moving the mouse cursor. That will prevent the trainee fromsimply quickly sweeping the mouse cursor over the displayed text andpretending they are reading or reviewing the material.

FIG. 8 illustrates the message box which advises the trainee to slowdown. It also prevents them from continuing until the message box isclosed, either by pressing the ‘Escape’ key or clicking ‘OK’.

After the text area is thought to be covered, the trainee will click ona menu button which will ‘submit’, or send, the results recorded by theprogram running on the client computer back to the server computer. Theresults include the total number of grid areas in the text display, aswell as the number of grid areas successfully recorded as attentivelyread. The latter divided by the former results in the percentage thetrainee has scored on the study of the given text document. The resultsent will be displayed for the trainee's benefit. The same data willthen be recorded in a database on the server for later retrieval andreview by the trainee, supervisors, and training administrators.

FIG. 9 illustrates the message showing the trainee the result of hiseffort to attentively read the displayed text.

A program such as the one described above, will also be used inconjunction with an image file downloaded to the client computer anddisplayed to the user. Although in most cases an image file will notcontain a text document, it can still be covered by a careful ‘sweeping’of the display area by the mouse cursor. Close attention and focus willneed to be given to keep the mouse cursor on a path acceptable to thealgorithms included in the program. Again, such focus and attention willresult in user recognition of the material presented in the image, andsome recording of that material in the user's memory. Again, the numberof grid areas present, and successfully covered, will be recorded by theprogram. A score will be calculated, displayed to the user, and sentback to the server computer for recording in a database.

1. A computer aided training mechanism comprising a program downloadedfrom a server computer to a client computer, which brings with it anddisplays a text document in a display area which correlates to thelocation of invisible grid areas laid out on the computer displayscreen, and a programmed capability to recognize when the trainee hasmoved the mouse cursor over the grid areas in a way which indicates thatthe trainee is focusing carefully upon, and therefore cognizant of thematerial presented in the text document.
 2. A computer aided trainingmechanism comprising a program which will determine when the mousecursor was moved over the various grid areas mentioned in claim 1, bythe trainee in a pattern consistent with a careful reading of thedocument in a manner similar to the reading of a printed document whilepointing one's finger at the words being read, and determining overwhich grid areas the mouse cursor moved in a strictly controlled andnon-random pattern, indicating a close focus of the trainee on the givengrid areas and resulting cognizance of the text co-located with the saidgrid areas.
 3. Additional computer programming comprising the capabilityto recognize when the trainee is moving the mouse cursor over the gridareas referred to in claim 1 too quickly to allow the trainee tocarefully read the words of the text co-located with the grid areas, anda programmed popup message which will advise the trainee of this andforce movement of the cursor to stop until this message is acknowledged,and will force further movement of the cursor to be at a slower speed.4. Additional computer programming comprising the results of the programcapability in claims 1, 2, and 3 being recorded as areas of the textfocused upon, versus those not focused upon, as well as the total areaof the text document, and the recording of the percentage of thedocument focused upon, all of which are useful to the trainee, as wellas the trainee's supervisors and training administrators, in determiningthe degree of effort and focus the trainee has exerted in reviewing thetraining material.
 5. Additional computer programming comprising theability to use the capabilities mentioned in claims 1, 2, 3, and 4 withmaterial presented as an image.